NBA Showtime
Reviewed by Dale Kulas
The Game
2-on-2 arcade basketball action, much like the NBA Jam and
Hangtime games, but in 3-D.
The only other arcade basketball game by Midway to go 3-D
was NBA Jam Extreme, and it didn't turn out to be all that
good of a game with sloppy control, so will this one fail as
well, or improve upon Extreme's weaknesses.
Graphics
Graphics were very impressive, of course they're nothing like
in NBA2K, but they're just right for an arcade game. All the
faces are textured nicely, and surprisingly look a lot like the
real thing. and all the players are loaded with muscles like in
Caricatures, where they look unlifelike, and completely out of
proportion, but I guess it fits the arcade genre nicely. You get
instant replays too, but they aren't as great as the one's found
in NBA 2K, where they only last a few seconds, from only one
angle, and with no special zoom ins or anything, but at least
there was an effort, for example, some replays are shown right
after a simple slam dunk that don't even look the greatest. There
is a nice opening FMV though, that makes use of the NBA on NBC
television theme, that makes you think you're about to play a
simulation basketball game. You got lots of great background
courts to play on, from in doors, to the beach, or city court, they
all look great, and are fun to play on. There's nothing really
wrong with the visuals, but the big characters might turn
away some fans use to playing the Live series.
Sound
There's only one announcer, but he does a pretty good job calling
the action, and he doesn't sound like a talking robot like the
announcer in NFL QB Club '98 for N64. All the sound effects are
done nicely like the monster dunks, the ball swishing through
the hoop and bouncing off the board and so on. Sometimes the NBC
music gets really annoying, but otherwise, everything sounds pretty good.
Game play
If you played previous Jam or Hangtime games you know how to
play. It's 2-on-2 action, with monster dunks, easy 3-pointers
and barely any rules. I wish goaltending was always legal,
since it happens way too often in this game. I heard there were
free throws in this game too, but I haven't run into a free throw
situation when I rented the game. This game incorporates some
of the new moves that debuted in NBA Hangtime such as spin moves,
alley-oops, and double dunks, all which look pretty good and with
practice, become easy to pull off. In the previous Jam and Hangtimes,
when you jump to block a shot, your player seems to stay up longer
than your average sim game, which of course I got use to and made
game play pretty good, but in NBA Showtime your players are in the
air for way longer than you should be, and by the time your player
lands on the ground after a missed block, the team has already scored.
But my biggest complaint about the game play is the really
awkward default controller settings they give you. They're
nothing like in previous Jam or Hangtime games, and you'll
get mixed up from the start. Usually I can adapt to many
different control schemes, but I couldn't for this title,
but thank I can change the controller settings! But the
average gamer usually doesn't change the controls at all and
just stick with the default settings. The game is packed
with a few modes like exhibition, season, and tournament
modes, plus the great create a player mode where you can
make your own player from scratch. You only have 4, three
minute quarters, and can only make substitutions at half
time. The game does seem to move at a more sluggish rate
then previous hoop games from Midway, strangely.
Replay Value
There's a few bonus modes like tournament and season play,
plus you can even create your own player which is really fun
to mess around with, with lots of things to do, you can even
give him his own nickname which the announcer calls him by!
Plus there's 4-player action too, and unlike most sports
titles, this one doesn't take up half of your VMU, only 18
blocks, and 2 for each created player. But you better hope
the awful default controller settings don't drive your
friends away from this game.
In Brief
+: Some nice visuals here, Create-a-Player is great, Nice
exclusive console modes like tournament and season
-: The game plays rather sluggish, horrible default control
settings, poorly done instant replays
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 8. 1
Sound: 7. 8
Game play: 6. 2
Replay Value: 6. 7
Overall: 7.2 out of 10
Comments
It's a pretty good buy if you like arcade sports games, but
In my honest opinion I like the old 2-D NBA Jam/Hangtime
games a lot more than this. I definitely recommend renting
this game first before you buy, plus make sure to change the
control schemes to the previous Jam/Hangtime games, because
you'll have lots of trouble getting this one down.
OR
Life Insurance - Wills - Gardening - Personal Loans - Loan 